rushed to the nearest door and throwing all my weight into it.
I grunted as I pushed hard, but the thing didn't budge. There was no visible locking mechanism, so I concluded they must have locked it from the outside. I spun on my feet to put my back against the door and face my attackers.
I wasn't expecting what I saw.
Bradley was standing with his head tilted back and his hand pinching the bridge of his nose. Blood was fresh on his face from the nosebleed my blow had given him. The large man was back in his seat, chuckling at Bradley's comical look.
"Yeah yeah, Gus, she cracked you one too."
The large man, Gus, shrugged. "I'm not the one bleeding like a little girl." He lay back, putting his hands behind his head and watching Bradley as he tried to stop the blood flowing.
My heartbeat started to slow and I lost a lot of the tension that had built up in my body. I felt sore, and tired, but relieved they weren't going to attack me. I wasn't sure what to do next.
"Um…"
Bradley looked at me sideways. "You didn't have to do that you know." He reached into an overhead storage unit for a towel and pressed it to his face. "I was just trying to take off your cuffs."
I felt myself blush. "I'm… sorry?" I said, frowning for a moment. "No, wait, I'm not sorry. You kidnapped me. What the hell is going on?"
Bradley rolled his eyes. "We didn't kidnap you. You passed out and we brought you here. You're not a prisoner."
I raised an eyebrow. "Then why was I handcuffed?"
"Well Gus over there thought it was a good idea in case you freaked out when you woke up or something." Bradley glared at me and gestured to his face. "Which, in light of things, wasn't such a bad call."
"Fine, but why am I still locked in?"
Bradley looked over to Gus, who let out a chortle of laughter. This set Bradley off who started laughing, which in turn made Gus laugh harder. I stood with my hands on my hips and waited for them to stop laughing at me, getting more frustrated by the second.
"What the heck is so damn funny?"
Bradley stifled his laughter and looked at me. "That door isn't locked, but you won't be able to open it at the moment."
I sighed. "And why would that be."
"Because we're about 36000 feet above the ground."
My eyes widened as I realized what kind of vehicle I was in. I ran over to the nearest seat and threw myself down and strapped myself in. I started gasping in air as my whole body shook, and stared around the cabin in horror. My heart leapt into my throat with each beat and it felt like I was going to throw up.
I was in an airplane. In the sky. Not on the ground.
Bradley handed me a paper bag which I started breathing into to calm myself. After a few minutes I had stopped shaking enough to remove the bag.
His annoying grin was back on his face. "First time flying, huh?" I glared daggers at him and tightened the seat belt.
Gus cleared his throat. "You know that if we crash that thing won't save you right?"
Bradley shot him a look. "You're not helping."
Gus tilted his head to the side. "You thought I was trying to be helpful?" He turned back away from the two of us to sit straight in his seat. After reclining he closed his eyes and lifted a set of headphones and placed them over his ears. I turned to look at Bradley again.
"How can you be so calm about this? We're in a tiny piece of metal flying through the sky."
Bradley laughed. "You think this is bad? Wait until you're sitting on the leg of a low flying chopper as it tears above the tree line so fast you can only see a blur of green below you. This right here is damn luxurious."
I shook my head and looked him over. He was wearing the same black clothing that I had seen him in last night, the same clothes that Gus and the other man had been wearing. That is where I'd recognized it from.
I sighed. "So I'm going to hazard a guess and say that you're military?"
"In virtute."
I frowned at him. "What does that mean?"
"It's Latin. That's the motto of the Pulsers."
"The
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